Big Col

This all seems quite odd. This time of year we're all usually salivating about our new high draft picks and expecting/hoping * them to become stars because we might make it to a Prelim Final in 5 years if they're any good. It's about generating enthusiasm so we can sell memberships. And it's about praying that our few good players don't injure themselves. Now that we know we have the list - and most of them are young enough to be competing for years - pre-season becomes something different. I'm not sure what that is, but this all seems quite odd. MFCSS died in Perth last October. (random fact: those two words are just one word in Spanish - 'esperar' - and since knowing that, as a god-damn sh*te- as Spanish speaker - I now get retrospectively confused on occasions.)

You inspired me to check how much in royalties my band has made since we uploaded a few albums last year. I think I'm close to retiring on the USD$3.93 we've made. If you listened to one of our albums on 24/7 repeat for a year it'd only be about the same as having sold a CD.

David Shwartz (circa last half of 1994 season, before the knee injuries)

That was such a great read I took out a subscription!

You should if the question is "how many times has a team won after winning the year before?". - which is what the question really is (or should be).

When we start winning all the time they won't like us and that will be fine. I was rather sick of being everyone's 'second' team. If the rest of the AFL supporters don't hate us yet then we've got more to do.

The great run on Injuries - is that an obvious one?

I cried. Now I have closure on 2021 and I hope the way I feel is the same as the players. We HAVE to win in 2022 at the MCG. I'm not complete and satisfied until that happens.

Demonception

An improvement of 8 ladder places per year should see us at in negative 7th next year.

Nice work TMD. #5 is going to take a lot of work!

I used to think that Trade Week and the Draft were our Grand Final - the highlight of the year. I feel the same as you @La Dee-vina Comedia.

you can't include Casey when WCE, Freo, PA and ADL all have their seconds in a different competition.

"You're not watching the Grand Final again, are you?" says my 9 year old, bemused. "Yep" I say, a tear in my eye, as my youngest wanders off. Ah, the wistfulness of youth! As excited as I would have been had we won when I was a 9 year old back in 1977, I would have convinced myself that premierships for the Demons were part of the natural order. The wisdom of the years has made me want to savour every single drop of this performance because I don't know when or if it will ever happen again. But I'm hungry too. My Richmond friend said that premierships were like cocaine. While the first hit is probably the best, it leaves you with a burning desire for more. One premiership is not enough. But in the meantime I'll be watching the replay again.

The Dr McLelland Trophy is hardly a high profile award, but I think it may have been in the past. I have a proposal. Nowadays it's awarded to the minor premier, but in the past it was awarded to a club based on the performance of the u19s, Reserves and Seniors. First the u19s were abolished and then, later, the reserves was merged with VFA/VFL and the introduction of interstate teams made counting the 2nds performances redundant. Back in the 1970's you'd get 8pts for a senior win, 4 points for a Reserves win and 2 points for an u/19 win. The Dr Mclelland Trophy was the only thing we'd ever have a shot at winning! So, my proposal is to return the trophy as a recognition of the performance of a club, rather than just a team. With the introduction of 1 womens' team per club from 2023 we have the opportunity to return the Dr McLelland Trophy to a club trophy. I'm not going to propose a scoring system, except to say that the Mens and Womens should be weighted equally for the purposes of this trophy. Maybe nobody cares, but I thought it was good idea.

why did stop at '95?

The first shot is Trac after scoring his 'Daicos' goal with 1 min to go in the 3rd. My God he looks determined, even angry. The crowd is going nuts but he knows the job isn't finished. 30 seconds of play later we see the look on Bont's face - total dejection after Clarry hits the third goal i 30 seconds for the Dees.

I want to suggest that Fritta's 4th goal (his 2nd one in the third Q where he flew for the mark and scored after keeping his feet) was the one that got us believing - and perhaps the one I was most excited about. The first goal was "OK, good, were still in it if we stay disciplined" The second was "game on" - and at that point my despair disappeared. The rest was crazy better than I could have imagined, but after 2 goals in 30 seconds I believed again.

For a good part of the season I thought Mitch might be a better option than Weeds and Benny. Before the VFL was shut down he played a ripper game and it really put the pressure on. Glad he's got another year.

Not at all, my friend.

Is anyone else fighting off nausea? I've been trying to distract myself all week and (thankfully and ironically) have had some full on stuff to deal with - but every time I 'relax' and think about Saturday night I feel like vomiting. Or crying. And then vomiting again. I'm going to be a mess on Saturday. No drinking before the first bounce!

This is what happens when they take Grand Final Week away from Victoria. Everyone knows that this week Melbourne (the city) is supposed to be the centre of all news. Yesterday - protests in the city. Today - an earthquake. Tomorrow?

Oliver still has 2 x BOG (rd 20 vs GC and rd23 vs Geel)

Bont will get max 1 vote in the last 4 rounds. Wines and Clarry come home with a sail.

We now hit Wines purple patch - maybe 12-15 out of the next 5 games. I think Parish will drop off. Oliver gets 3 votes in Rd23. Maybe Wines gets 2. Boak will get the 3. It's going to be close. Lets hope Wines doesn't get more than 12 in the next 5.